Slavic headdresses, emblematic accessories of the new collection

In the Slavic tradition, women are adorned with incredible, spectacular headdresses. In turn flowery, embroidered, beaded, these are strong and visually very interesting elements. And for the shooting of the Ballets Russes collection, I wanted to put us in the scene with beautiful headdresses, as a signature of the theme. So I looked for inspiration around these headdresses, with the desire to create them ourselves, and two types of headdresses stand out in particular.

The kokoshnik : this headdress was worn by village women for festivals and was also brought back into fashion during the reign of Nicholas I at court for women of the imperial family and ladies -in-waiting during official ceremonies.

The materials used for its manufacture were silk, velvet and they often included embellishments: flowers, embroidery, pearls and even for the most precious, precious stones or gold thread embroidery.

The vinok : Ukrainian headdress historically worn by young girls and unmarried women as a token of purity. In Ukraine as in Russia, women traditionally wore crowns at weddings, a legacy of Byzantine culture. But the vinok is also worn at festivals to celebrate spring, where young women dance and wear flower crowns.

This very strong cultural heritage is found in the work of many designers, notably during the Chanel métier d'art fashion show for the Paris Moscow collection in 2009, with decorative work on the models' headdresses made by the artisans of Maison Michel. This reinforced my idea that we could play with this type of accessory without falling into cliché, the result at Chanel is breathtaking and it is a magnificent tribute to this know-how.

Making such a headdress ourselves was impossible and getting one was quite complicated: the most "precious" versions are collector's items and although craftsmen continue to offer them (you can find them on the internet to order in Russia), the most beautiful models are very expensive and for the more accessible headdresses we quickly fall into the element of folklore which loses its appeal.

So I went hunting for accessories, whether flowers or the support. I found in a costume jewelry and accessories store (Brigitte Bijoux) large braided headbands, in order to insert flowers. And for the flowers, you can find artificial flowers at Gifi, Centrakor, etc. In order to gain height, I also inserted dried flowers to "verticalize" the composition a little ;)

The beautiful flowery headdresses were ready but it is still not the original kokoshnik and I found it a shame not to be able to integrate this accessory so "strong". I spoke about it with my photographer, who suggested that I get closer to the Russian community of Montpellier and here we are looking for one on the Friday before the shooting. A Russian grocery store is located just a stone's throw from the Fabre museum where we were to take the photos. Here I am explaining to the lady at the grocery store my project and my search for a kokoshnik... it intrigues her a little but after a few phone calls, miracle a friend of a friend is willing to lend us hers!

And we had a real kokoshnik for the photos, like an east wind came to blow on the shooting.

I also suggest that we meet again in a future episode of L'Œil Fauve for a DIY around the floral adornment. I will show you how to make a crown like the one we wear with Vanina on the shooting.